My Boyhood and Youth 



feeding-grounds, moving from one table to 

 another, field to field, forest to forest, finding 

 something ripe and wholesome all the year 

 round. In going south in the fine Indian- 

 summer weather they flew high and followed 

 one another, though the head of the flock 

 might be hundreds of miles in advance. But 

 against head winds they took advantage of the 

 inequalities of the ground, flying comparatively 

 low. All followed the leader's ups and downs 

 over hill and dale though far out of sight, never 

 hesitating at any turn of the way, vertical or 

 horizontal that the leaders had taken, though 

 the largest flocks stretched across several 

 States, and belts of different kinds of weather. 



There were no roosting- or breeding-places 

 near our farm, and I never saw any of them 

 until long after the great flocks were extermi- 

 nated. I therefore quote, from Audubon's and 

 Pokagon's vivid descriptions. 



"Toward evening," Audubon says, "they 

 depart for the roosting-place, which may be 

 hundreds of miles distant. One on the banks of 

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